The present invention relates to a glass plate conveying apparatus for separating glass plates from a stack, supported by a support member and having guard sheets or spacers inserted between the glass plates, into separated glass plates and guard sheets or spacers, and conveying the separated glass plates to another operation site.
Various kinds of glass plate conveying apparatuses have been proposed for conveying glass plates stacked and supported by a support member to another operation site. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 2-43143 discloses a glass plate conveying apparatus comprising a suction hand which has a hand base, two sets of suction pads which are separately mounted on the hand base, two sets of driving and locking devices for driving the suction pads independently and locking them at appropriate positions in accordance with stop signals. A position detecting device is provided including a detecting rod and a position sensor for detecting the distance between the suction pads (which are in retracted positions) and a plate member (which is to be attracted to the suction pads) and starting the driving and locking devices when the distance becomes a predetermined value. A movable robot arm is provided on which the suction hand is mounted. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 5-16979 discloses a glass plate conveying apparatus comprising a framework mounted on a robot arm, a plurality of suction pads mounted on the framework, a pair of electromagnetic holders mounted on the framework, each of the electromagnetic holders being capable of swinging around an axis parallel to the plane of the framework, and a device for ejecting pressurized air from the attracting surface of each electromagnetic holder. The above apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 5-16979 separates a stack of glass plates, supported by a support member, with spacers made of magnetic material inserted between the plates, into separated glass plates and spacers, and conveys the separated glass plates to another operation site.
The glass plate conveying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 2-43143 can handle stacked and supported glass plates, supported at various angles, but cannot separate stacked plates with guard sheets or spacers inserted between the plates, into separated glass plates and guard sheets or spacers. The glass plate conveying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 5-16979 can separate stacked glass plates with spacers made of magnetic material inserted between them into separated glass plates and spacers, but cannot separate stacked glass plates with guard sheets inserted between them, into separated glass plates and guard sheets.